In this section, I break down the top three fantasy hockey performers every night and cite why I chose them in particular. In addition, I will track the amount of times the players have received this honor and tally them at the end of the season. For the sake of clarity, I will be using Yahoo! standard categories (Forwards – G,A,+/-, PP, PIM, SOG; Goalies – W, GAA, SV%, SHO) and thus exclude player’s salaries.

Not too busy of a night with six games and 12 teams in action. Complete tie between the offense and defense as six teams scored two or less and six three or more. Here are our standout fantasy stars for January 6, 2009:

THIRD STAR: James van Riemsdyk, Philadelphia Flyers (0-0-1) – van Riemsdyk played a large role in the Flyers 6-2 route of the Leafs. In under 14 minutes of ice time, the 20-year-old scored a powerplay goal and assisted on another. In addition, the former 2nd overall pick fired three shots on goal while finishing the game a modest plus-two. Even though his scoring pace slowed down from a point-per-game clip at the quarter mark, this top prospect should finish with respectable numbers and eventually break out.

A couple of teams coming off back-to-back nights. Marty Turco and Niklas Backstrom should be in nets considering their backups played last night. I told think the situation is as cut and dry in Calgary or Toronto, so I will keep you posted on those decisions. In addition, the Rangers, Blues and Flyers play the first of back-to-back games, so it will be interesting to see who they choose to start on which nights. (H/T to Joe English for the Turco decision)